Juana Bats Puak of the National Coordination of Widows of Totonicapan, Guatemala is also part of the survivors of the massacre that took place last Thursday 4 in that country against the Maya Kiche peoples.

Bats told Real World Radio that the struggle in the 48 municipalities of Totonicapán of the Maya Kiché people is the result of three demands made to the Guatemalan government in October that consist in their opposition to the constitutional reform and the violation of their right to prior consultation, as well as against the reform in the teacher’s training course, since the indigenous believe that it implies privatizing education and it rises the price of electricity, besides the frequent blackouts they already suffer.

The native peoples of Totonicapan gathered at the Inter-American highway and simultaneously blocked three roads: Cuatro Caminos, in Checancoboz and in Alaska. Here they were repressed by the Guatemalan army. Eight people got killed and over thirty were injured as a result of the repression.

Bats emphasized that the indigenous were not armed and that even though some people are currently being tried for the crimes against the Maya Kiche peoples, the masterminds of the massacre should be taken to justice. The 1st Continental Assembly of CLOC-Via Campesina will end on Sunday with an act of solidarity with the resisting organizations and communities in Honduras and Guatemala.